Loading and unloading apparatus for vehicles



V. L. I. BOURGEOIS. LOADING AND UNLOADING APPARATUS FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED N'OV. 29, 1919.

Patentedsept. 20, 1921.

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iti-Mim@ v. L. J. BOURGEOIS. LOADING AND UNLOADING APPARATUS FOR VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED NOVI 29, i919.

UNITED sTATEps PATENT OFFICE.`

'vIC'roR L. .'r. BOURGEOIS, or MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA, A'ssIGNo'B. or CNE-HALF rro JosErII NAZAIRE DUBoIs, or MONTREAL, CANADA.

LOADING AND UNLOADING APPARATUS FOR VEHICLES.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that-I, VICTOR L. J. BOUR- GEoIs, a subject of the King of Belgium, residing at Montreal, Province yof Quebec, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Loading and Unloading Apparatus for Vehicles; and I do hereby declare thatv the following is a full, clear, and eXact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention has relation to loading and unloading apparatus for vehicles or the like and the principal object resides in the provision of means' for the simple and expeditious elevationor lowering of the materials to and from the vehicle bed orl the like.l

Another object of the invention is tol provide mechanism arranged for connection to the vehicle frame and adaptedfor actuating the platform of the apparatus and which may be operated,'manually or by adraft animal, or actuated in connection with the driving engine, when motor trucks are used.

A further object is -to provide an elevating platform adapted for attachment to the vehicle frame to form the body 0f the vey hicle.

A still furthe-r object is'to provide an'ele? vating platform adapted with its guide ele- V, ment, to be detached from the vehicle and disposed out of theway upon the same.

With the above and other objects 'in view which will hereinafter appear as the descri tion continues, the inventionv consists oft e novel features ofconstruction, combination and formation of parts as will be hereinafter more fullydescr'ibed andparticularly` pointed out in the appended claims. l

In the accompanying drawin s has been shown a simple and preferred orm of the invention, it being, however, understood that no limitation is necessarily made to the precise structural details'herein exhibited,fbut the right is hereby reserved to any changes,

alterations or modifications to which recourse may be had that come within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of the inventionor sacrificing the effciencyof the same.

Y ,lh invention has been .illustrateglin its Specification of Letters Patent.`

preferred and modified embodiments in the accompanying drawings, wherein y Patented sept. 20,1921. Applicationy led November 29, 1919. Serial No. 341,456.

Figure 1 is'an elevational View of a wagon,

illustrating the application of the preferred embodiment of the invention thereto;

Y Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectionA of the same with portions broken away;

Fig.3 is a magnified sectional elevation of the platform and guide frame;

Fig. 4 is a plan view ofthe vehicle bed, platform and guide frame; v

F ig. 5 is a partial longitudinaly sectional view, with the elevating platform disposed i,

under the vehicle frame; f Fig. 6 is a cross section illustratingl the operative mechanism of the platform, with the latter portioned with the vehicle and the guide frame stowed away; Fig. `7 is a bottom plan same; Fig. 8 is a'detail sectional elevation, illustrating the disposal of thefguide frame when not in use;

Fig. 9 yis a tion of the vehicle bed and p atform, with the guide frame in elevation;

'F1g. 10 is a longitudinal section of a modified form of the platform and guide frame; F ig. 11 fis av plan elevation of the same; Fig.v 12 is an edge elevation of the modified form of guide frame, when the same is collapsed; i

- Fig. '13 is a elevation of the Fig.'14 is a detail 'elevation and'secton of the platform and frame of the same; and, Fig. 15 is a plan view of a portion of the operativemechanism of the platform.

` In carrying out the present invention, reference being had tothe drawings in detail, there is provided a wheel supported vehicle body 10, having' a flooring '11.' Secured to the vehicle floor 11 and extendinglongitudinally thereof, are a pair of yrails 12, which are disposed adjacent and extend inalinement with the said walls '14 of the body.

The rear end of the Vvehicle-flojorll has sefurther modified form of plat` form and guide frame;

fragmental lon 'tudinal sec- I i cured thereto, by means of the straps 15 a cross rod 16.` e

A guide frame 17 ycor'nprising bars 18 and upwardly opening confronting 'channels 24 'Y and at their upper-.ends areprovided with hooks 25 adapted for engagement with the cross rod 16, whereby the same is attached to the wagon bed. Vhen the guide frame 17 is attached to the said cross rod 16, the

bars V18 and 19 are disposed at an angle with respect to the base bars 22 and top cross bars 21 and the latter are so positioned that their vertical-edge portions extend in alinement with the rails 12 of the vehicle body 10. A platform 26 is adapted for adjustment upon said guide frame 17, having' secured to its opposite ends the bearing plates 27 in which are located the shafts 28 carrying the grooved rollers 29 and 30. The rollers 30 are Voperable within the channeled portion 24 of bars 18, while rollers 29 have bearings at their Vgroovedv portions upon the outer edge of bars 19. As will be understood, platform 26 is adapted for movement upon the guide frame 17 for .elevating loads to the loor 11 of the vehicle and upon reaching the top of the bars 18 and 19 the rollers 30 willrun upon the rails 12 while the rear rollers 29 will Arun upon the'outer edges' of top bars 21, arranged in alinement with the rails 12.

The elevating platform 26-isa'etuated in the *following manner A shaft 31 extends transversely of and is secured,to the under 'surface of the wagon floor 10 at its medial part, by the hearing r standards 32 andfsaid shaft 31 adjacent each end has secured thereto the drums 33 and 34 on'a'pinv shaft 41. A'strap member 42 secured atitsV ends to the depending frame bar 43, is provided withv openings through which projectthe ends'of shaft 31and 41, which latter aresquared at 44, and; adapted for seatingr within the Vopening'in the crank handle 45, by means of which shaft 31 is revolved to wind up cables 35 and 36 upon drums 33 and 34 to elevate said platform 26 to the wagon bed 11. VLikewise pin shaft 41 has keyed thereon a 'toothed' ratchet member 46, adapted for engagement with a pawl 47 pivotally mounted at one end in the frame bar"\43. The function of thel pawl and ratehet'meehani'sm is to prevent the back rotation of shaft 31, while the same is being a6- tuated'f'te @levate the platforn'1`26,VVV i 1t will be readily seen that upon the rotation of shaft 31, through its associated gear elements and drums, that-cables 35 and 36 will bewound upon drums 33 and 34, resulting' thereby in the 'elevation ofv .platform 26 upon the guide frame 17`an`d into the vehicle proper, by the engagement of the pul-l leys or wheels 29 upon the rails 12Y of the vehicle bed. In this manner, the loads are assembled upon the platform 26, l'which latter is always maintainedv in horizontal position with respect to the guide frame 17. Pulleys or wheels 29 and 30 will rengage bars 18 and 19 vrespectively and upon maximumeleva? vtion of said platform vthe wheelsfw-ill restl on the rails 12 of the body and cross bars 21. As the rails 12 and the cross bar'edges are in alinement, the platform 26 attached to the cables 35 -and 36, will be drawn unto the vehiele bed 11, the said `'cables passing over the oppositely disposed pulleys 46 on the cross rod 16. V When the platform 26 is elevated to the vehicle bed the forward rollers 30-will engage or travel upon the horizontal portions 47 of rails 12, whilev the rollers 29 will engage the vertical web portions 48ythereof.

`The` platform 26, when not in use, may be stowed out of the way beneath thev vehicle frame, within an opening easing 49, as illustrate'd in Figf, and-a spring 50 secured to the top wall of casing 49 serves with a spring catch 51', to hold 'the the casing 49. y, y j Guide frame 17 may be collapsed and the sections lowered within the brackets 52 and 53 at 'the ends of the vehicle body-10.

In the modified form illustrated in Figs. 10 to 12=inclusive,A the numeral 54jdesignates thevehiole'bed, the same being constructed in the'fo'rm ofva metallic frame, provided with L-shapedrails 55 and across rod 56 secured by straps 5 7 the side walls ofthe vehicle body. f This rod 5,6 likewise carries a pair offpulleys-58 overwhich are trained cables 59, secured to theV forward end of the movable platform 60.V v. i

said platform within f A guidefframe 61 is'adapted for detaehi able connection toY thev rear open end of the vehicle frame and Vcomprises upright bars 62, 63, and 64, a base bar 65 of substantially L-eonfiguration, and thev Connecting bars C6 and 67. `Bar 62 is likewise-.of Leonfgura tion andisconnected to railbars y676 vand j o its lower surface the bearing brackets 7-1 in which are mounted theshaft's" 72V 7 3, and

74. Shaft 72 carries theplain rollers 75, while shaft 73 carries the ooved rollers 76 and the shaft 74 carries the double grooved rollers 76.

Secured to each side of the rail bars 66 and 67 are the pivotally connected outer rail bars 77 and f8. The outer grooved ortion ofrollers 76 ride upon the edge o outer rail bars 77 and 78, while the rollers 76 ride upon the bars 63, and rollers 75 travel upon the L-bars '62. Upon reaching the top of the guide frame the platform rollers will travel upon the rails 66 and 55 and be moved inwardly unto the vehicle frame. This form of guide frame may be collapsed and in an appropriate-manner stowed away in the vehicle frame. p

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 13 the guidejframe comprises the longitudinal bars 79, 89 and 81, the top and intermediate bars 82 and 83 and the base bars 84, and all of said bars are connected together by pivot pins 85, so that the said guide frame may be collapsed when not in use. Bars 79 are of L-conguration in cross section while base bars 84 are provided with channels 86.

The base bars 84 have secured to their l outer ends the plates 86 upon which ride the rollers 87, 88 and 89 of platform 90, when the latter is to be elevated upon said guide frame. Rollers 86 when the platform is to be elevated will pass through the channels 86 of the base plates 84 and upwardl yupon thehorizontal surface of bars 79.

ollers 88 will engage within the channels 86 of the base rod and the outer edges of bars 80, while rollers 89 will ride upon the outer edges of the bars 81. o Upon the elevation of the platform 90 tothe top of the guide frame the rollers 87 88 and 89`will ride upon the top edges of bars 82, which latter are in alinement with the rails 91 o-f the vehicle body. Hooks 92 are formed on the bars 79 and are adapted to be secured to the cross rod 93 of the vehicle frame. Likewise the guide frame may be collapsed and stowed away within the vehicle frame.v

Manually operable means for elevating the lifting platform may be dispensed with and the hoisting mechanism may bey directly connected Yto the shaft of yan explosive-engine,

more particularly used in thepropulsion of motor trucks and Vthus the load may be elel vated without resorting to thev crank. handle scribed, very heavy loads may be elevated' or lowered fromthe ground tothe vehicle, thus doing away with the labor usually employed in this connection,

The platforms may be loaded at the proper place and hauled to the guide frames and elevated. unto the vehicle,

Likewise the construction may be applied to railway baggage or freight conveying trucks in which the operative mechanism may be connected to the propulsion motor lo elevate a platform to the level of the car oor.

By this construction, it is obvious that a liquid load may be elevated or lowered from a vehicle, as the platform will always be dis* posed in horizontal plane, andl likewise the same means may be employed to elevate furniture, safes or the like, to different floors, by providing a frame of the required length. Likewise the apparatus may be employed with great advantage for loading freight cars.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The combination with a vehicle, a frame including spaced side members attached to the rear-end of said vehicle, said frame comprising a plurality of hinged sections, inclined tracks attached to the side members of theframe, and a carriage mounted on the tracks to ride upwardly thereon and upon the side members of the frame into said vehicle. t

2. The combination with a vehicle, including a horizontally disposed bottom, a frame extending rearwardly therefrom, having its upper edge flush with the upper side of the vehicle bottom, said frame including spaced side members and comprising a plurality of hinged sections, inclined tracks pivotally connected to the sidey members, for collapsible movement relative thereto, and a oarriage mounted on the inclined tracks for upward movement thereon, in a horizontal plane, said carriage being movableon the tracks and on the side members of the frame, and into the body of the vehicle, substantially as and'for the purposes set forth.

3. The combination with a vehicle, includ ing a body having a horizontally disposed bottom, said bottom having grooves therein,

a frame'attached to the rear end of the botd tom ofthe vehicle body, said frame including spaced side members, inclined tracks pivotally connected to the side members for folding movement relative thereto7 a car mounted'upon the inclined tracks and movable upwardly and downwardly thereon, said car being disposed in the same plane as the bottom of the vehiclebody, and movy able along the side members of the frame,

cables mounted in the grooves of the vehicle body andattached to the car, for actuating the same, and means for windingA and unwinding the cables, substantially as and for the purposes set forth. l

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand. i

vieronv J. BOURGEOIS, 

